Kanpur: Two National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) aspirants along with two others were arrested by the police recently for carrying out a kidnapping of a minor-Aditya Shukla alias Nandu (9), son of Manjit Shukla a hostel owner.

As per media reports, the kidnappers initially believed that the owners would have no problem paying the asked for ransom of Rs. 5 crore. However, fearing trouble later, the kidnappers reportedly, dumped the child in a UPSRTC bus in Fatehpur and fled.

Police later registered an FIR under sections 364 (A), 504, 506 of IPC and launched an investigation.

The arrested have been identified as Akhilesh Yadav, Ravi Verma, and Shivjeet Yadav alias Vicky, all natives of Pratapgarh and Mohit Gupta, a resident of Kalyanpur in the city.

“The police recovered four country-made pistols, several cartridges, five mobile phones and SIMs, a car, besides a couple of two-wheelers from the four accused which they had used in kidnapping the child. They have been sent to jail while the hunt for their accomplices is underway. Ravi and Shivjeet, who hail from Pratapgarh, were preparing for NEET and were putting up in a hostel in Kakadeo area of the city. They were the ‘masterminds’, who had kidnapped the child Aditya Shukla while he was on way to school on an E-rickshaw in Lajpatnagar area of the city on April 16 morning.

Soon, the miscreants had made a ransom call of Rs 5 crore to the boy’s father who runs hostels in Kakadeo area. The child was however later dumped in a UPSRTC bus in Fatehpur as they developed cold feet,” said SSP Akhilesh Kumar on Monday to TOI.

During a cross-questioning session with the police, Ravi revealed that he along with Shivjeet had kidnapped the boy to pay his and his girlfriend’s medical college donation fee. She happens to be a NEET aspirant as well. Ravi said that without letting his girlfriend know he had gone ahead and purchased a second-hand car and a motorcycle for conducting the crime.

Police said the arrests had been made possible due to the intensive interrogation of suspects and inputs gathered with the help of e-surveillance, along with the scrutiny of CCTV footage.

During this process, they reached the mobile phone shop owner Manoj Gupta from whom Ravi, had procured two SIMs against a fake identity, and from one of the numbers of the procured SIMs, the ransom call was made by the accused in the case.

Ravi and Shivjeet had come to know about the victim’s father Manjit Shukla, as he ran the hostel opposite the one that the two lived in, and both were confident that Shukla could easily pay the asked for ransom money revealed the police.